


Straw Hat Divergence

by enforcer713



Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, Haki (One Piece), Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates, Observation Haki (One Piece), Overpowered Straw Hat Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:27:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29156568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enforcer713/pseuds/enforcer713
Summary: The Straw Hat crew learn how to use 'Mantra' in Skypiea before leaving. Let's see how the journey goes on from there?The entire Straw Hat crew will become OP, eventually...
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. The Divergence

**Author's Note:**

> The premise is simple. The Straw Hat crew learn ‘Mantra’ as in Observation Haki in Skypiea from Gan Fall before leaving, and the story deviates into an AU from there. I know, I know, Gan Fall cannot use Mantra, but he has seen the Priests and Enel use it countless times, and knows how to counter it. If anyone can come close to teaching it that early in the series then its him.
> 
> One of the things that bothered me about the masterpiece that is One Piece is Robin’s potential. Robin is the oldest one in the crew at that point in time, she’s been on the run from the age of 8, and she’s been in the Grand line of all places since she was 23. Hence during all the time working as an underling for villains with a very active lifestyle, she should have known about Haki. As such, in this story, she has already awakened Observation Haki. So, seeing the similarities of Mantra and her Haki, ‘she’ asks Gan Fall to teach her how to use it, which leads to the crew staying at Skypiea for three weeks after the battle with Enel. So, basically the entire crew try and learn ‘Mantra’, despite Gan Fall’s efforts to dissuade them that it is not for everyone.  
> Also, Enel is dead. He fell off the Ark Maxim after Luffy’s final attack, where Wyper finds the unconscious Logia user and puts the Reject Dial into Enel’s skull, killing him.
> 
> This is my first fanfic, so go easy on me.

**Grand Line-**

The Straw Hat crew had been busy patching up Merry for the last few days. The Ship had worn out since its fall from Sky Island. Merry had to be in the best condition to carry that much gold to their next destination. The solid gold pillar gifted to them by the Skypieans was bisected into three equal halves and carefully tied up to the ship and covered in cloth to ward off unnecessary attention.

Zoro was in the crow’s nest, meditating as well as keeping an eye out. Ussop was tinkering with all the dials that he had collected in Skypiea. Sanji was busy cooking up some snacks for Robin and Nami. Nami was keeping watch of the Grand Line’s treacherously turbulent weather carefully with the help of her log pose and navigating the ship as usual. Robin was busy reading a book. Chopper was reading one of Robin’s books. And Luffy was bored.

“I’m BOREDDDD!!!” The Straw Hat Captain yelled out loud.

“Practice your Mantra!” The crew chorused in perfectly practiced unison.

Luffy immediately went into a meditative state to practice mantra. This was their new sacred word. Ever since Luffy awoke his mantra in Sky Island, he’s been _‘hearing’_ things from the world. Luffy being just as terrible with directions as Zoro is, he had quickly gotten lost in the sound. It kept the troublesome Captain from jumping on about the ship like a child who is high on sugar for the better part of an hour, so it was a win-win for the crew.

They now had three mantra users in the crew, Robin was by far the best at it. Luffy was a close second, and finally Zoro, who trained non-stop, dead-set on being the best.

The calm lasted for about ten minutes before Luffy once again stood up, jumping about the ship, “Hey Zoro, do you see anything?”

The swordsman opened his eyes, and replied lazily, “Yeah, I saw an island a while ago.”

“Why the hell didn’t you say so?!” Ussop yelled.

“Land ho…!” The hyperactive Captain yelled and the crew sighed collectively.

* * *

Luffy had jumped off the ship the moment it came to a halt and bounced away in excitement. Ussop and Chopper had gone with their dumb captain just to make sure that he didn’t get lost or get in any trouble.

They had hope. The island was a long and endless plain, it didn’t even look like it had people. Which means there was no way Luffy would get in trouble. And they were positive that their crew’s doctor and sniper would guide Luffy back to the ship if he did get lost.

“Nami-san, I think you should come and see this…” Sanji’s voice broke the silence on deck. Even Zoro looked curious as Sanji’s voice wasn’t one of his lovey-dovey tone, it was serious.

Nami walked towards her orange groves to see Sanji staring at the fruits with a bowl in his hand. She followed her perverted crewmate’s gaze and she was dumbstruck to see a blue fruit hanging on one of her groves. The fruit was larger than her orange, it had swirls to it. It was no ordinary fruit.

“Is that what I think it is?” A voice came from behind them. They turned to see Zoro and Robin standing there staring at them.

“I think it is…” Nami agreed.

Robin came closer to inspect it and then she turned on her heels, “I’ll get the Devil Fruit Encyclopaedia.”

“We have one of those?” Sanji asked in shock.

“Crocodile had one, an outdated version of the Encyclopaedia stolen by one of the billions from a marine base. I brought it with me.” Robin answered briefly.

A few minutes later, Robin was referring to the large book and inspecting the fruit hanging on the grove. The archaeologist stood up and addressed the crew, “It is definitely a logia type Devil fruit. Elemental class. I think it might be Enel’s Devil Fruit. Enel is the only logia type devil fruit user to die in the vicinity of the ship. It’s the only logical explanation.”

Nami’s eyes turned shape near-instantly into the Berry symbol, she grinned happily, “Let’s sell it!”

Sanji went back to his love mode near instantly, as Zoro sighed, while Robin smiled, “That’s not your decision to make.” Zoro chimed in, “It’s Luffy’s.”

“Why not?!” Nami screeched baring her teeth at the swordsman, “They say these fruits go for over a hundred million berrys. You do know that we’re broke right?”

A tic mark erupted on Zoro’s forehead as he yelled back, “We have enough gold here that’s worth over one billion berries _according to you_!”

“That’s my personal savings!” The navigator retorted.

Zoro yelled back, “Your savings? It belongs to everyone in the crew!”

“Fine! I’ll give you five percent.”

“It’s not a negotiation!”

Zoro and Nami shot back and forth, Nami still trying to haggle a percentage while the swordsman yelled in utter determination. Sanji sweat-dropped, while Robin once again smiled carelessly.

But then Robin’s expressions became serious, “I too think it is unwise, Nami-san." That immediately earned the attention of everyone on deck.

"Normal paramecia type devil fruits are sold for hundreds of millions of berries. A zoan type is rare, it could be sold for several hundred million, perhaps even a billion.” Nami looked as if Christmas had come early, giggling devilishly every few seconds, but Robin continued, “A logia type is rarer still, it could easily fetch us over a billion berries.” By now, Nami was glowing, as if she was ready to fly away.

And then, Robin’s explanation took a dark turn, “However, it comes with a risk. The moment the black-market dealers get word that someone out there is trying to sell a logia type devil fruit, they will sniff us out, every bounty hunter in the immediate area would come after us, not to mention the marines. If the marines try to buy it, we could be arrested at the meet-up, and even if we manage to evade them after the sale is completed, the fruit will most likely end up in the hands of one of the Vice-Admirals or one of the Cypher Pol agents. And it would be disastrous if one of the Vice-Admirals started chasing us with Lightning logia type prowess.”

Nami’s hopes at a sale was dashed by Robin’s assessment, as she cried. Her hysteria was interrupted when Zoro announced, “Pipe down! We have company.”

A giant pirate ship with a Jolly Roger with the name FOXY spelled on it arrived, trapping Merry from sailing.

* * *

Luffy was pissed off, he didn’t care who this clown was, he was going to send him flying. They shot Sherry, the old man Tonjit’s horse, the horse that had waited ten years for the old man to come down from the bamboo stilts, he will never forgive this foxy guy for that.

And he did. Luffy was pissed, he didn’t listen to what the foxy guy had to say at all. The punch had sent the foxy guy flying off into the sky until he disappeared in a sparkling star. Luffy chased the guy’s crew all the way to the shore, to Merry, only to see the large ship and its crew pulling out the foxy guy out of the water.

“AHHH!!!” He was still pissed, “Let me at em’!”

Bodies were laid out all around Merry. Sanji, Zoro and Robin had done their job. The Foxy pirates crew was freaking out.

Then he heard a sudden yell, “How dare you hit me! I am Foxy the Silver Fox, Captain of the Foxy Pirates!”

“I don’t care who the hell you are! I don’t even know who you are!” That sent the captain of the Foxy pirates into an immediate depression. Zoro, Sanji and Nami sweat-dropped, while Robin giggled at the exchange.

Foxy stood up again at the beckoning of his combatant Porche, “I will defeat you!”

“Oh yeah? Take this…” Luffy lunged, “Gomu Gomu no…”

“Noro Noro Beam!”

Luffy slowed down in mid-air as Foxy used the thirty seconds window to deliver a barrage of blows on Luffy’s body. When the beam’s effect wore off, Luffy was sent flying with bruises of the punch.

Luffy jumped right back on his feet and was about to lunge back when Robin yelled out, “Luffy, do not fall to his bait. Calm down. Use your Mantra.”

The word ‘mantra’ had the desired effect on Luffy, because the Straw-Hat captain looked up, his eyes screaming ‘awesome’. He took a deep breath and remembered Gan Fall’s words. And then he calmed himself down. Focusing on his mantra, he took a running start again. This time the Straw-Hat crew wasn’t worried, as his entire crew watched with a smirk.

Foxy laughed arrogantly, “Noro Noro Beam!”

This time Luffy predicted the beam’s direction and stamped his feet on the ground to jump higher within a split second and evaded above it. Foxy adjusted his aim and shot another Noro Noro Beam at him, but he saw this one coming as well. His arms elongated and punched into the ground, as he pulled himself down to the ground before propelling forward in full speed. Before Foxy could shoot another beam, Luffy was on him, one arm stretched behind him as he brought it on Foxy, “Gomu Gomu no Bullet!!”

The punch connected right on Foxy’s nose, sending him flying away into the sea. Foxy skidded on the water a few times like a rock skipping of a pond and then went into the sea with an explosive ‘splash’. The Foxy crew jumped in to rescue their boss once again.

* * *


	2. Admiral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own One Piece, it belongs to Oda and Toei, and them alone…  
> I plan to make the entire Straw-Hat Crew stronger, albeit a bit slowly, but not too slowly. I don’t have all the things planned out, but I have the general outline planned out. Updates will be slow.

**_Long Island-_ **

“ROBINNN!!!” Nami screamed as she watched in horror, frozen in fear, as her teammates and captain were defeated by the Ice-element logia fruit using Admiral Aokiji.

Luffy’s right hand was frozen, so was Zoro’s right bicep and Sanji’s left kneecap. And Robin was… Robin was frozen entirely into a statue of ice.

She watched in panic as the Admiral raised his arm to smash Robin’s body into pieces. Time stopped for a moment, but Luffy swooped in tackling Robin’s frozen form out of harm’s way while using his own body to cushion the fall. Her breath hitched again in shock as the Admiral rose his foot high, intent on stamping Robin’s frozen form.

Usopp saved the day when he grabbed Robin’s body in a split-second and ran past the tall admiral, while the man stamped Luffy in the chest, making him cough up blood.

“Run, Usopp! Get back to the ship! Start thawing her!!” Luffy yelled as he rolled sideways on the ground away from the tall man.

Usopp ran, close behind him was Chopper. The admiral turned towards them, “For god’s sake, don’t save a woman like her.”

Aokiji caught the swing of her clima-tact, stopping it in his grasp, “Thanks for the suggestion, but no thanks. The pirate world is filled with women like her.”

“And you know it?” The admiral countered swiftly. The man pulled her clima-tact out of her hands with his monstrous strength and ‘whap’, she was sent flying. The pain didn’t register, as she climbed back to her feet, “Stand aside, missy.”

“Nami-san!!” Sanji yelled as he got back on his feet, facing the admiral. The noise of a sword being unsheathed out of its scabbard drew the logia user’s attention. The admiral’s gaze fell on the swordsman who was wielding three swords, one in each hand, and one on his mouth.

“Wait, you two!!”

All of their attention fell on Luffy, who was standing up, wiping the blood on his mouth away.

“Don’t fight him. I want to fight him alone.”

“Are you crazy?” Nami screamed at her bull-headed captain.

Luffy’s tone made her flinch, “That’s an order.”

Luffy’s gaze was now locked on Aokiji, “Let’s settle this…you and me, mano a mano!”

“Cool with me, kid. But be warned, this will be a fight to the death.”

* * *

A short while later...

The admiral sat on the grass as he watched the frozen statuesque form of Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of the Straw-Hat Pirates. The form was still aiming to punch him, arm stretched in attack mode.

“Feh…” The admiral sighed, “You tricked me didn’t you, brat?”

“Mano a mano…” Aokiji muttered, “I agreed to fight you one on one. I won, but still…if I attack your crew now, I’d be going back my word. Clever…”

_'How did he know that I would keep my word?'_ The admiral wondered curiously. The brat was fascinating. If he wasn't mistaken, he never would have expected a rookie brat from this part of the grand line to use Kenbunshoku Haki of all things, even the brat's first-mate swordsman Roronoa Zoro used something similar, _'Did the brat sense my intent?'_

Then he shrugged, a thin grin appeared on the admiral’s face, “Or…you actually believed you could defeat me…”

The man chuckled lazily, “Anyway, it doesn’t matter.” The admiral stood up lazily, patting the dust off his clothes.

“Your crew will break apart very soon. Nico Robin’s troubles are not easily rid of. Her misfortunes will follow you to your death. Monkey D. Luffy...”

The admiral rose his leg aiming to kick, but decided otherwise as he once again stood down, “I could so easily shatter you into a million pieces and send you to the hell that you so rightly deserve. But I owe you a favour. I was there when Smoker made his report. Crocodile should have been my problem, but you took care of it for me.”

“So, let’s call it even.”

With that, the admiral walked away lazily, leaving the frozen form of Straw-Hat Luffy in the middle of nowhere.

* * *

In the darkness of the ship, Robin walked past her sleeping crewmates to the deck. She stared into the night sky and got lost in the millions and millions of stars that lit the dark sky.

“Can’t sleep?” A voice broke her out of her musings. She turned to see Nami standing there.

“Nami-san.” She greeted politely.

Robin’s choice to ignore her query wasn’t lost on her, but she needed her crewmate to be clear-headed. She walked closer to the mysterious woman and she stood beside her and began staring into the night sky, enjoying the beauty of it.

“Chopper will throw a fit if he sees you walking about already.” She simply said it, not expecting a reply.

“Doctor-san must keep a closer eye on the captain. Cook-san is likely to kill him in the morning.”

“What did he do?” Nami asked in alarm.

“I saw Monkey-san raiding the fridge.” Robin replied with a smile. Nami’s eyes twitched at Robin’s response, but then resignedly sighed at the antics of her fun-loving idiot of a captain.

They both fell into a comfortable silence. Neither had any idea how long they stared up at the sky and enjoyed the silence. Robin and Nami sat opposing each other, but their eyes were fixed on the sky.

The silences lasted until Nami willed herself to ask, “Robin, what was the admiral talking about?”

Robin closed her eyes as if she had expected this question, “Please, do not ask me about that.” Robin withdrew into herself, clutching at her legs with her arms.

Nami remembered something Nojiko once said to her when she had started stealing from pirates. In order to bring someone’s wall down and earn their trust, she had to open herself up to them first. While she took the advice at face value and concocted a believable sob story to deceive the pirates who she then robbed blind, the actual intent behind the words of wisdom weren’t lost on her.

“My island was subjugated by Arlong, a Fishman pirate, who enslaved my village and killed my mother before my eyes. For so long, I shut everyone out of my life, to protect myself. Whenever I looked at myself in the mirror, I could see the weight and guilt weighing on my shoulders. I can see that on your shoulders too, Robin.”

With that, Nami stood up, “I don’t know what happened to you. I won’t ask. But I will tell you something that helped me overcome my fears…”

“Trust in Luffy.”

Robin perked up when she heard Luffy’s name, she watched as Nami walked away to get some rest. Lost in thought, she mused about Nami’s words.

She did trust her captain. This crew welcomed her and for the first time in a long time, she felt like she belonged in this family. But the admiral’s words still rang in her ears, and Luffy suffered for her sake. Every time the world came for her, her crew would try to hand her over, this time, however, her captain and crew fought for her. And this time, she would protect them.

* * *

Luffy sat on the sheep figurehead of Going Merry. They ran into a giant frog named Yokojina that was trying to battle a sea train called Puffing Tom, and then they met a granny named Kokoro the shift station's station master and from there they were going to Water Seven, where they will repair the Merry and recruit a Shipwright as part of the Nakama.

Thinking made his head hurt. He hated thinking. But he had no choice. He had to think of a way to battle the ice-guy if he came after them to finish what he started later on. His mantra didn’t help him in the fight at all, while he saw Aokiji’s moves coming, but he only saw them at the last possible second, and even then, he was too slow to evade them all.

He needed to increase his speed drastically and he had to better his mantra. For the last ten days, he’s been practising his mantra non-stop like Zoro, who was lifting even heavier weights since their run-in with the admiral. Sanji had upped his training, his speed and the strength behind his kicks. Even Chopper and Nami were taking lessons from Robin about awakening their mantra. Usopp was Usopp, their sniper was dead-set on building a new dial-powered slingshot for a better range and accuracy.

He needed to get stronger, much, much stronger. Ever since their fight in long island, he could sense the presence of all the living things all around him. And with each passing day, his range has been improving by a few metres. And he was planning on taking Robin’s advice seriously, he will remain calm in battle. He remembered losing his calm against Aokiji and fully freezing in an instant, until then, he was barely keeping up with the guy as it is, and he was certain that the ice-guy was holding back big-time. He made a promise to himself; he would keep his nakama safe.

_‘Next stop, Water Seven.'_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s chapter two. Thanks for the support, I didn’t have much hope of anyone liking it, but I was pleasantly surprised. See you soon…

**Author's Note:**

> And that’s the first chapter. I hope people will like this, at least a little. If you didn’t like it, let me know where to improve. I mean, constructive criticism.


End file.
